a record of the quirky, crazy, sometimes exciting and often mundane goings on of the family johnson of haymarket.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Utah with Cara

So last Thursday morning I boarded a plane bound for Salt Lake City to visit my dear friend Cara. I met her my freshman year of college and we instantly bonded. We were bridesmaids at each others weddings and we have both kept in touch through the years although it has gotten harder and harder. She has come out to visit me and this was my second trip to see her, the last one being six years ago. It was definitely time for another visit and I am so happy that Jeremy planned it for my birthday. We both have three kids which makes it no easy task to have girl time, but Jeremy had it covered here and Cara got babysitters for the three days her husband couldn't be with her kids. We were free and 18 again as we reminisced the old days and chatted about how far we've come. We walked main street in Park City, went to the Salt Lake Temple and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, visited our old stompin' grounds in Provo, walking on campus and driving to see where we both had lived. We went to the BYU Bookstore and saw the movie Julie and Julia (highly recommend it!) went to the farmers market and we ate. Oh boy did we eat! We had Cafe Rio, The Spaghetti Factory, Grappa's (a fancy restaurant in PC), Chinese food and Park City's famous Chicken salad, complete with french fries and FRY SAUCE, cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy, Carmel apples and fudge from main street, chocolate covered cinnamon bears that are only found in Utah, and Magleby's. Dear old Magelby's which holds a special place in the hearts of Cara and myself. We used to go there and get Dr. Peppers and eat platefulls of their yummy bread sticks and then wash it all down with their famous buttermilk pie. And that's exactly what we did, we stuffed ourselves like Thanksgiving turkeys until we almost popped! The pie there is amazing and I have tried to replicate it more than once without success. I had asked for the recipe years ago and was told it was a family secret. When our waitress had heard of our plight and our history with the restaurant she broke the rules. She took a picture of the recipe on her phone and then copied it down for us. I am so anxious to try it.Lest you think all we did was eat, you would be mistaken. We also worked our bodies to the bone. We hiked the Y (details in a second post), walked the trails of Park City for 5 miles, and then hiked Rob's trail for probably 6-8 miles and got a bit lost on the way back... My fit friend Cara never tired. My body, however, is not in the same shape and today I am so sore, but grateful that I could work off some of that food.

It was the perfect trip- a great friend with great food in a great place and everything exceeded my expectations. Thank you Jeremy for watching the kids and for doing fun things with them while I was gone and thank you sweet Cara and Gordon for opening your home and inconveniencing your regular schedule for me. I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many awesome people. This was a trip I will never forget. Turning 30 wasn't so bad after all.

I'm so glad you had such a fun time! It's such a blessing to have those kind of friends that you can go six years without seeing but pick right up where you left off when you get back together! Love the Provo pictures and seeing the place behind Smiths where we were almost neighbors!